Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(28)

Her heartbeat sped up. The palms of her hands turned clammy.

She thought, here we go.

He said, “Come on.”

Mary slung her purse onto her shoulder and climbed out of the Jeep when he did. She gasped as the wind, icy and wet with the storm’s sullen promise, sliced through her baggy flannel shirt, flattening it against her torso.

“My hotel on the beach is so hot I won’t need clothes,” she said through gritted teeth. She started to shiver. “I’ll have just three red triangles of cloth with strings to hold them in place. And that’s my dress-up-for-dinner outfit.”

“Oh, man,” said Michael. “I’m so there.” He grinned at her, teeth white against his dark, unshaven face.

He put his backpack on one shoulder, rounded the end of the Jeep and put an arm across her shoulders. She slid hers around his waist and huddled close to his warmth. Then he took off at a pace that was so brisk she had to trot to keep up. She bent her head and watched their legs. For every step he took she had to take three.

They walked a block, crossed the street and turned toward the Lake. The air was thick with wicked shadows. She started to breathe hard and not just from the pace Michael set.

“Keep telling me about the beach,” he said. His quiet voice was unhurried.

She shook her head, unable to reply. Trepidation locked her throat, and her leg muscles quivered. Bad things waited for them up ahead, men like the ones who had tried to kidnap her. In the psychic realm something black, glistening and hungry lurked near the shore.

She could see it in her mind’s eye, lazily testing the air with long, shadowy tendrils like tentacles. It was all she could do to force her quaking body to keep pace with Michael, to keep taking one step after another.

“All right,” Michael said. He pulled her into a short, shadowed alley. They walked the length of it. “I’ll tell you about the beach. We’ll be finished with all of this, of course.”

“Of course,” she echoed.

“We’ll go snorkeling any time we want,” he told her. “And because the afternoons are long and lazy and full of sunshine, we’ll be able to explore the nearby coral reefs for hours. Every color imaginable is in that coral reef, framed by clear, cobalt blue water.” They reached the mouth of the alley and paused. “You’re going to get sick of swimming.”

“That’s hard to imagine.” Wretched with cold and fear, she sniffled and swiped at her nose with the back of one hand. “Healer and warrior. Balancing energies. Bleh. Try warrior and coward—there’s a balance for you.”

“You’re not a coward,” he said. He cupped her cheek with one big, warm hand. “Cowards don’t do things that scare them, and you do.”

“Don’t try to tell me what a coward is,” she growled. “I know exactly what I am. I am a coward. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. I’d be hiding in somebody’s basement in Tennessee.”

He laughed. “Is that cowardice or common sense?” He pushed her against one wall, while he peered around the corner of the building. After a moment, he pulled back. The streetlights had come on in the darkening night. Illumination from a nearby street lamp sliced across his cheekbone and jaw. “Besides, I don’t believe you.” He looked down at her and ran callused fingers down the side of her upturned face. “You complain when you’re scared. You don’t run. Are you ready?”

She gave him a jerky nod. His dark head swooped down and he gave her a quick, hard kiss. She felt his warm, firm lips, the scrape of his short whiskers against her cheek, and her mouth moved against his in startled response.

He lifted his head too soon. “There’s a mile-long waterfront park, with a small municipal marina located at the western end. I’ve docked there before. The marina’s our best chance for quick access to a boat. When we exit the alley, it will be about a quarter of a mile west, to our left. We’ve got to cross the highway to get to it. There are two obvious places to cross the highway. One is at a stoplight at Lake Street or there’s a lighted tunnel that runs under the highway. Both are being watched, I think by humans.”

“There’s something else out there,” she said. “Something in the psychic realm. I don’t know what it is, but it’s big. It feels malevolent.”

“I know,” he said. “I sense it too. It’s watching the shoreline. We could wait for a break in the traffic and dash across the highway to the park. That would avoid the two crossings, but there’s not a lot of cover in the park, and that’s where the creature is lurking.”

She watched his face as she said, “We’re not going to get to a boat without a fight, are we?”

“No. The question is do we pick a human fight, or a psychic one? And either fight might draw attention from the other realm.” He cocked his head, which brought his gray eyes into the light. “How do you want to play this?”

She licked dry lips and twisted her hands together. “You’re the fighter,” she said. “Use your best judgment. I’ll back you up. Just tell me what you want to do, and I’ll do it.”

He said, “I’m tired of skulking. We’ll cross at the stoplight on Lake Street, and humans be damned.”

She tilted her face up and looked into the light-filled eyes of the tiger. With sudden surety, she knew he wasn’t afraid. He stood poised and balanced on the balls of his feet, an archetypical warrior wearing only the lightest of human facades. A realization occurred to her that felt as though it echoed back through time.